Francesco's Hole in the Wall

My family and I went to Francesco's Hole in the Wall restaurant in Northbrook, IL last night. I've never been too impressed with Italian food in greaterland Chicago, but this place is pretty for real. It's one of the smallest sit-down restaurants I've ever been to, which is quite interesting considering this is in the suburbs. It only has 16 small tables and has a very homey rustic charm. Normally they don't take reservations, but for whatever reason, they allowed my family and I to make a reservation last night. It's a good thing because the wait for everyone else around 7pm was a 45 minute to an hour wait.

To drink, I settled with a glass of Ruffino chianti red wine, which was very smooth and medium-bodied. For my entree, I decided on the osso buco served with a little bit of risotto on the side. As anyone familiar with Italian food knows, osso buco is typically of gigantic portions and is a very heavy and hearty dish. This was no different. I think I would've liked to have more bone marrow in mine, but the meat itself was cooked perfectly tender. The sauce had a natural strong flavor. It may have been on the salty side for me, but definitely not shockingly so.

I didn't get to try a lot of everything else, but the rest of my family ordered chicken vesuvio (supposedly one of their best dishes), linguine with shrimp arrabiata, lamb chops, and fried calamari. The fried calamari was probably among the best and most tender I've ever had, so I would definitely recommend that as an appetizer.

I'd definitely like to return to this restaurant and try one of their pastas. For anyone looking for solid food at a restaurant with character and atmosphere in the suburbs, I would definitely recommend Francesco's Hole in the Wall.

Francesco's Hole in the Wall
254 Skokie Boulevard
(between Frontage Rd & Lake Cook Rd)
Northbrook, IL 60062
(847) 272-0155

Pork Tenderloin with Apples

My dad, brother, and I cooked pork tenderloin with apples for Christmas Eve dinner last night. We marinated the tenderloins in salt, pepper, and olive oil. First, we browned and seared them in a wok. While that was going on, I made the glaze which consisted of dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and sugar. I honestly don't know what my measurements were. I just kept adding stuff until it tasted well balanced. After the tenderloins were finished being seared, we poured the glaze over them and stuck them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. While that was being done, we cooked chopped green apples in the oil left over from when the pork was being seared and half a stick of butter. While the apples softened up, we then added maybe about half a cup of apple cider, about 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, and about 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream.

After 20 minutes of the pork being in the oven, we weren't sure if it was really cooked through yet but didn't want to cut it open, so we just poured the apple sauce over the pork tenderloins and left them in the oven with it turned off. We figured that by leaving them in the turned off oven, it would still cook a little bit but not too much.

This was a really great Christmas dish. The pork was very lean, and the apples gave the right amount of sweetness and moistness to the dish. I think it turned out great, and it was a nice change from our usual steak dinner on Christmas Eve. When I make this again, I think the only thing I'll do differently is marinate the pork in the mustard/apple cider vinegar/brown sugar/olive oil glaze so that the flavors will come through more in the pork.

Panini maker!

My mom bought a big panini maker on sale for $60 at William Sonoma. I was really excited about it because I love paninis. The picture above is of a nutella and banana panini. I also made a serrano ham and manchego cheese panini for lunch. I used Pepperidge Farm white bread for both, but I think I need to use a better bread. I didn't realize how flat the bread would get from the panini maker, so I think I'll try a good loaf of Italian bread next time.

Both the jamon serrano and manchego cheese were bought from Costco. And on that note, you can buy the culinary treasure, Iberico de Bellota from Costco too! That's the jamon that comes from pigs that are only fed acorns in Spain. Typically, you can only find this in Spain or France, but I guess it's made its way to Costco in the States. For $29.99 for 4oz, it's defintiely not cheap, but it was certainly delicious with a distinct nutty taste, which I assume is from the acorns.

Mussels with Bacon and Apples

Bacon and apples together is something I've sort of had a fascination with lately even though I don't really recall eating that combination until, well...today. When I searched for bacon and apples on foodnetwork.com, I came across this recipe. I've never been a Bobby Flay fan, but the recipe sounded good, and I'm fairly confident in cooking mussels since I've done it a number of times before.

Instead of making 1 pound of mussels, I made 4.41lbs to be exact. Costco sells live mussels, and you have to cook all of them while they're live, so I didn't have much of a choice but to cook all 4.41lbs, but that was just enough for my family. I'm not really one for following recipes but rather just use them as a guide.

I ended up using about 12oz of bacon, 4 shallots (however in varying sizes), 2 Fuji apples, and whatever amount seemed appropriate of dry white wine, apple cider, and apple cider vinegar. I bought heavy cream and ended up forgetting to put it in, but that's ok because the mussels were perfectly fine without the cream.

I definitely want to make this again, possibly with the cream and maybe less bacon.

Little note

As a side note, a lot of people have asked me what I've been eating here in Dominica (the random island in the Caribbean where I go to medical school, for those of you who don't know). There's really nothing interesting to note here about food. There's no variety, and what you could eat could potentially make you sick (though interestingly enough the only time I've gotten sick here was after eating Subway), but there are certainly a few things here and there that I've taken a liking towards. I'll seriously write about the few random things I like here. Hit me up if you'd care to read about it.

Also, look forward to update overload when I'm on my 3 week winter break. I plan on eating out and cooking a lot with my family and Gabe (he's visiting me in Chicago for 5 days!).

Until then, cheers!

Avec

Yes, I'm updating my blog 3 months too late. It's better late than never, right? I'm actually not gonna give the excuse that med school has taken up too much of my time because I definitely have had time to write about my last meals in Chicago and New York. I just never got around to it for some reason.

Anyways, I've chosen to write about Avec tonight because it was my last nice meal before I left for med school. It has a very hip but cool and laidback vibe that's inviting and not pretentious at all. It's very Momofuku-esque, if you will. It's headed by Chef Koren, who if any of you watch Top Chef, was the judge for the beer pairing quickfire last season. She uses inspiration from Spanish and Mediterranean food and puts her own contemporary spin on it without being too out there. Seriously, everything we had absolutely did not fail, and I think this restaurant does an amazing take on tapas slash "small plates." A lot of people call it tapas, but I prefer to just call them small plates because the food is not strictly Spanish by any means.


We started out with the Housemade Baccala, with red and yellow watermelon, cucumber, pickled watermelon rind, mint, aleppo pepper, and olive oil ($11). This was an ABSOLUTE winner. I personally love baccala, but this really was an interesting take on it, and it just worked so well. It was refreshing, and not a single ingredient overpowered another. This stands out in my mind as a perfect summer dish.


Next, we had Avec's oh-so-famous Chorizo-stuffed Medjool Dates, with smoked bacon and piquillo pepper sauce ($9). While Avec changes its menu quite frequently, this is the one item you can count on staying on the menu. It is one of their signature items, and certainly for good reason. Again, every flavor blended together perfectly well, and the strong taste of the chorizo, bacon, and sauce did not overpower the sweetness of the dates.


Next was the Wood-roasted Half Chicken "Panzanella" with bread, heirloom tomatoes, kalamatas, golden raisins and mint ($16). Normally, we probably wouldn't order chicken in a place like this, but my sister wanted chicken, and they didn't have a pork dish on the menu. Surprisingly, this has to have been one of the best non-fried chicken dishes I've ever had, if not the best. Even the white meat was ridiculously moist and tender. I'm usually not a raisins fan, but the raisins went surprisingly well with this dish.


The next "large plate" was the Trofle Puttanesca with albacore, picholine olives, caperberries, and thyme ($16). This was actually a pretty large portion of pasta, which I wasn't expecting. I think I remember being somewhat iffy about this dish. It was certainly good, but it didn't speak to me as well as the other dishes. I think the overall taste of the pasta was pretty strong in a way that wasn't very summer-y like the other dishes.


Our last dish was the Pan-roasted Hanger Steak with rapini, roasted corn, smoked paprika, lima beans, and herbed butter ($12). I actually don't remember too much about this one besides the fact that it was good and perfectly cooked medium rare to our liking.

We did have dessert, but I don't remember what it was. Also, my choice of drink for the evening was a Belgian wheat beer, Blanche de Bruxelles. It was very light and refreshing.

Overall, I HIGHLY recommend Avec. It's definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago in terms of food, service, and atmosphere. We didn't have to wait too long, but we went around 6:30pm on a Wednesday night. Expect longer waits if you go any later than that on any given night, and ESPECIALLY on the weekends.

Tank Noodle

Chicago has a pretty big Vietnamese community, so therefore has it's very own Little Saigon. My family and I decided to go to Tank Noodle on Broadway and Argyle last week to have some pho, which this place is known for. This definitely was the best pho I've ever had!


I had the pho consisting of beef noodles soup with sliced beef, well-done flank, skirt flank ($6.95). It also came with a generous helping of lime, bean sprouts, and other garnishes on the side. The broth was perfectly tasty and flavorful with the right amount of richness and saltiness. The refreshing taste from the spices the broth is cooked with was not masked at all by the beefy flavor of the broth. The beef itself was also quite tender and freshly cooked.

Aside from the pho, Tank Noodle also has lots of fresh fruit smoothies and bubble tea. I went with the avocado smoothie which was fresh and not too sweet nor creamy.

I think Tank Noodle will be my go-to spot for a bowl of pho.

Tank Noodle (Pho Xe Tang)
4953 N. Broadway St
Chicago, IL

Cafe Iberico

On my birthday, my family, friend Vadicel, and I went to Cafe Iberico for dinner. Even though it's a very large restaurant, the wait is supposedly ridiculous, especially on the weekends. We went on a Wednesday, and the place was basically filled up by the time we left around 9pm. Since we ordered a bunch of tapas plus paella, I won't post every picture. But overall, the food was really good and by far the best tapas I've had so far in Chicago.

Patatas Aioli ($4.95, red potatoes with garlic mayonnaise sauce) - this is something I've never seen in NY, but is on every single tapas menu in Chicago. This was pretty standard and good, though perhaps a bit too mayonnaise-y for my liking. Good taste though.


Jamon Iberico ($6.95, jamon iberico with pan tomate and manchego cheese) - I actually don't even know if this was really jamon iberico because I thought it's really expensive and not even really legal in the US, so it may have been serrano. Whatever type of ham it was, this was a really really really awesome tapas. Very simple.


Gambas al Ajillo ($6.95, shrimp in olive oil and garlic) - Also a very standard dish, and it certainly did not fail.


Pulpo a la Plancha ($7.95, grilled octopus with potatoes and olive oil) - I was pleasantly surprised with this one. It came in a heaping portion (for tapas), the potatoes were more like handcut fries, and the octopus was perfectly tender. While my dad would have preferred it a little saltier, I thought it was perfectly salty and seasoned for my taste.

Bacalao - This was a special, so it's not on the online menu, but I know it involved red peppers and that it was very good.

Lomo de Buey a la Brasa ($9.95, grilled beef tenderloin with potatoes and vegetables) - Really simple dish much like everything else, but I was happy that the beef wasn't too dry. Sometimes I worry about that when I'm not at a steak place and when the beef isn't doused in sauce. But while the beef was cook probably medium well (i typically only like medium rare), it still quite juicy and tasty.


Paella Iberico ($9.95) - This was your standard paella with chicken, chorizo, and seafood, and you better believe it was only $9.95 for a decently sized pan. I've read that some people don't like Cafe Iberico's paella, but this was actually really good in my opinion. Not too dry, not too watery. It was also perfectly tasty in my opinion.

For dessert, we also tried the fried plantains with vanilla ice cream. I also must mention that a pitcher of sangria is only about $13 or $14 there, and IT'S GOOD. They don't even fill the large pitcher with ice (the ice is in your glass), so it definitely comes with lots of sangria.

I would highly recommend Cafe Iberico for a big group since the tapas portions are actually pretty big. It's nothing fancy at all. Just solid, simple Spanish fare.

Cafe Iberico
739 N. LaSalle Drive
Chicago, IL 60610

Topolobampo

I made lunch reservations at Topolobampo, a Rick Bayless restaurant in River North, when one of my friends visited me in Chicago earlier last week. As a little bit of background, Bayless is a chef/proprietor specializing in tradition, regional Mexican cuisine with a higher end, slightly more modern twist. What not many people know is that Chicago is surprisingly the best (if not almost the best) city in the US for authentic, traditional, and regional Mexican food. Mexican food is a BIG DEAL here, and people will constantly debate who makes the best taco al pastor, and if the meat isn't char grilled, then forget about it. However, Bayless, who has won numerous awards in the last 20 years, has brought regional Mexican cuisine to a new level. Having read a lot about Bayless and Topolobampo, I was really curious to see what it's all about.

So we went for lunch, which is usually not the best way to experience fine dining, but Topolobampo is not cheap, and I really just wanted to see what this place was all about. Needless to say, my friend Vadicel and I were really impressed. From the moment we stepped in, we were immersed in this very warm atmosphere. Everything about the interior of the restaurant was warm and inviting with the walls decorated in Mexican art, as well as ceramics adorning display shelves. Overall, the service was friendly and relaxed, but perhaps slow at times. There were a couple of times when we needed our waiter but couldn't find him, but I usually let things like that slide if the food was good, and in this case it certainly was.

We were first given tortilla chips with housemade guacamole, compliments of the chef. Not too much to say about that except for the fact that it was probably the best tasting guacamole I've had. The ingredients were noticeably fresh, which is something that's extremely important in Bayless' food.


I had the Pato Con Mole Amargo, which was roasted gunthorp duck breast with mole of pasilla and mulato chiles, coffee, chocolate and sesame. The vegetables it came with were "wilted" spinach, pickled chayote, bayless garden microgreens. chilatas and potato budin (a cheesy potato tortilla type of thing). This was a very interesting dish, and while it sounds complex, everything just came together so well. The duck was very tender with just the right amount of fattiness. Thankfully, the coffee and chocolate in the mole sauce did not overpower the dish. Everything was blended perfectly.


My friend had the Trio, Trio, Trio which was a sampling of their three types of ceviches. You can refer here for the details on the ceviches. According to her, it was all really good. I tried the Ceviche Playero from her, and I really liked it. The seafood was very fresh and well prepared.


Probably the highlight for me was dessert. I don't remember the exact name of this dessert (it's not online), but it was essentially a chocolate tart with bacon a la Vosges' bacon-chocolate. And YOU KNOW how much I love that. This dessert was basically perfect. The chocolate tart wasn't too rich nor too sweet, and the bacon was perfectly accounted for. It also came with what I think was vanilla ice cream and some sort of orange petals. Honestly, not sure what the petals were, but we ate them. Awesome dessert - HIGHLY recommended.

So overall, Topolobampo was really good and worth the experience of trying higher end regional Mexican cuisine. I definitely recommend anyone to go here, particularly those who've never had Mexican food of this type.

Topolobampo
445 N. Clark St
Chicago, IL

Renga-Tei

On a weekday for lunch, my mom and I went to Renga-Tei, a no frills Japanese spot in Lincolnwood. Awesome Japanese food tends to be hard to come by In Chicago (in comparison to NY), but chowhounders rave about Renga-Tei. We went close to 2pm, when the kitchen was about to close. (Note: Many suburban restaurants here close for a few hours between lunch and dinner) We were surprised to find that the moderately sized restaurant was packed, which is really surprising for a weekday in the suburbs. Luckily, we were able to snag the last two seats at the bar before they stopped letting people in.

I ordered the Katsu-Don. Simply pork cutlets with egg, shredded dry seaweed, and broth that was lighter than teriyaki. There were also pickled veggies and rice on the side. This portion was HUGE. It ended up feeding me 3 consecutive meals, believe it or not. And I must say that this was the best katsu dish, as well as "don" I've ever had. I found it to be better than the Negi Tori Don at Yakitori Totto, even though those are pretty different dishes, but one can still compare the overall quality and taste of the dishes.

I definitely plan on coming back here and wouldn't mind trying the sushi.

Renga-Tei
3956 W. Touhy Ave
Lincolnwood, IL 60712

Hotate Bacon

Whenever I go to an izakaya place in New York, I always get hotate bacon (bacon-wrapped scallops). Since my yakitori chicken skewers were a hit during Thanksgiving (yes, we grilled on Thanksgiving), I figured I'd try bacon-wrapped scallops for my sister's graduation party at home. Last time I made yakitori, I made my own sauce from scratch using soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar. A couple of weeks ago, I found yakitori marinade or about $2 at HMart and decided to just go easy and do things that way since it's cheaper and easier.

We got about 4 pounds of jumbo scallops for a total of $20, which was ridiculously cheap. Since they were so big, I cut each of them in half and padded each one dry. I then left the scallops in the marinade for about 45 minutes while my brother half-cooked the bacon. Since the scallops would cook faster on the grill than the bacon, we had to pre-cook the bacon. Then we wrapped each scallop half with bacon and put them on the skewers. This takes a little longer than you'd think.

Finally, we grilled the bacon-wrapped scallops for about 3 minutes on each side. Turns out they weren't tasty enough, so we drizzled a little bit of marinade on the finished products. Everyone loved this at my sister's grad party!

Pizza from scratch

I made Pizza Margherita from scratch the other day! It wasn't difficult, but making the dough and letting it rise does take some time. I used this Batali pizza dough recipe, except I accidentally put one cup of water. I realized this before I put the wine, so I opted out of not using wine since I didn't want to make anymore dough than what the recipe called for. I was also too lazy to adjust the measurements of everything else. This dough recipe is enough for two 10" pizzas, so I actually still have another batch of dough left. Next time I need to make more, I'll definitely have to use wine to see how it enhances the taste.

I was a little lazy to make homemade marinara sauce, but since I don't like my pizza really saucy, I just spread a couple of tablespoons of canned tomato sauce on the dough. The next layer was fresh mozzarella that I sliced, then topped with fresh basil which I'm now growing myself. I baked it for about 13 minutes at 400 Fahrenheit. Overall, the pizza turned out decent. I could've kneaded the dough more to make it thinner, and I definitely could have used more fresh mozzarella and basil. My dad really liked the dough/crust though, so at least I have that down now. I'll just have to see how much of a positive difference wine makes.

Yesterday, I used the other half of the dough. I didn't have enough fresh mozzarella left to make a full pizza, but since there's always a steady supply of different cheeses in my house, I picked aged gouda. My crust turned out better this time because I flattened it out a bit more on the pizza pan. Overall, this pizza turned out better. The only thing is that I sprinkled a little bit of salt before baking it which ended up being totally unnecessary since the aged gouda was pretty salty.

I'm glad I now have pizza completely from scratch under my belt. Not that it's difficult, but at least it's a little better and more fun than getting delivery.

Some homecooked meals

Now that I'm home and unemployed in Chicago, living in a house with a nice and newly renovated kitchen, I've been pretty inspired to cook and experiment a bit. Whether on my own or as my dad's sous chef (my dad is the cook in this house), I've built up my repertoire more in the last week than I did in my last 3 months in New York.

The surprising thing about Chicago is that you can find cheaper and fresher fish here than you can in New York. Maybe my mom just knows where to look here and I don't know where to look in New York, but we've been getting lots of very fresh halibut and Chilean sea bass for about $10/lb more or less.


This is some halibut I made last week. I made about 2 pounds worth for dinner. As you know, I don't like measuring stuff when I cook. I kinda just go with it. Ingredients included maybe 4-5 cloves of garlic, tomatoes, shallots, about 3/4-1 cup of white wine, salt and pepper for seasoning, and fresh basil to garnish at the end. Oh, I also added a few threads of saffron from a little jar I had bought in Corfu last year. I added this while the white wine was reducing. Just a few threads REALLY made the saffron taste noticeable. Overall, the fish was pretty good though maybe could have used more salt and pepper.


Another day, my dad and I cooked fresh scallops in a similar manner, but added a bunch of oyster mushrooms. Instead of using white wine, we used red. The flavor was really good, but my dad definitely overcooked the scallops - they ended up being a bit rubbery, which I hate, but since it tasted good, I was able to deal. I wasn't sure if the oyster mushrooms would be good with the scallops, but they actually were!

He and I have made other seafood dishes in the last week, but they're really all pretty similar. It's pretty much always either red or white wine reduction, tomatoes, shallots, sometimes green onions, sometimes either oyster or enoki mushrooms, and always always always some garlic.

My sister is having a graduation party this coming Saturday, so I'm hoping to experiment with other party-appropriate dishes for that too...

Stay tuned!

Caracas Arepa Bar

A long time ago, before I knew anything about the New York food scene, I ate at Caracas Arepa Bar with a group of friends. I randomly felt like trying it again a couple of weeks ago, so I went to the take-out side to grab an arepa as a late afternoon/early evening snack.


I ordered the La Del Gato, which came with fried plantains, avocado slices, and a chunk of guayanes cheese...for a whopping $6. Yeah, that's expensive. The arepa was no bigger than the palm of my hand, and while it was very stuffed, I still don't think it warrants $6. Maybe I'd pay $4 for it, but $6 really seemed overpriced for a little snack. Don't get me wrong. It tasted really good and the arepa was crispy, but...ehhh. I just didn't think it was worth the price.

Basically, only go there if you're willing to cough up $6+ for a little snack that should really be much cheaper than it is.

Caracas Arepa Bar
91 East 7th St
New York, NY

Yummy Noodles

As of now, I'm officially back in Chicago for the next two months. Since I was so busy hanging out with people during my last few weeks in New York, I haven't gotten a chance to update this blog much. I have a lot to catch up on! A couple of weeks ago, Gabe and I were craving some Chinese food, so we went to Yummy Noodles in Chinatown. I had never been there before, but he has with his coworkers. Ugh, why didn't I discover this place before? Everything about it was better than any other similar place in Chinatown. It was cheaper, cleaner, and better.



Gabe ordered the Salt and Pepper Pork Chops. It was perfectly crispy, salty, and flavorful. It was also a massive portion at only maybe $7 or $8. The meat itself was also very tender and not chewy or dry at all, which is a problem I sometimes have with pork chops.


I had the Rice Casserole with Chinese Sausage and Preserved Duck ($5.25). I've never had a Chinese rice casserole, so little did I know that it's like the Chinese version of bibimbop! I always love it when the rice gets burnt and crispy at the bottom, yum. Even though it was a large portion overall, there was still way more rice than Chinese sausage and preserved duck. I hate having a lot of leftover rice because I feel like it's such a waste. But I can't eat rice without meat to accompany it, so unfortunately, I didn't finish all the rice. In any case, this dish was really good and cheap considering the portion.

And perhaps the most charming thing about this Chinese restaurant are the tshirts that the waiters wear. On the front, there's a picture of a diamond, and underneath, it reads, "Noodles & Co." On the back, it says, "Noodles are forever." Get it?! To top it off, the tshirts are black, and the print is in Tiffany's signature greenish color! Seriously, I loved it. I would so totally rock that shirt too, you have no idea.

For a change of scenery, go eat at Yummy Noodles. I like it better than any other standard Chinese place in Chinatown.

Yummy Noodles
48 Bowery
btwn Bayard and Canal

Jean-Georges Lunch

Last Friday, I went to Jean-Georges with Gabe and his cousin, Erika. Jean-Georges is one of those high-end contemporary French restaurants that boasts a remarkable weekday lunch deal of 2 courses for $28. That probably sounds normal, maybe even expensive to many, but that's actually one of the greatest culinary bargains in NYC. Unfortunately, this deal is only on the weekdays, which is why it took me so long to finally eat there for lunch. So when Gabe surprised me with a halfday at work and reservations at Jean-Georges, I was really excited.

We walked into the formal dining room, which was bright and minimalistic, much like Perry St, but with a more formal atmosphere. It seemed like the perfect interior for a nice lunch. After our waiter took our orders, we were given a plate of 3 amuse-bouches.


The amuses were a warm broccoli soup with creme fraiche, beet with white chocolate and orange zest, and house made mozzarella with shiso and honeydew. From these first bites, I knew we were in for a treat. My personal favorite was the broccoli soup. It probably sounds uninspired, but it was truly bursting with flavor.


My first course was the Foie Gras Brulee with Roasted Strawberries and Balsamic Vinegar. It was AMAZING. This was my first time ever really eating foie gras, and definitely not a bad place to start. Not surprisingly, it actually tasted exactly like creme brulee with the sweetness and blowtorched sugar. It also had the texture of custard. The foie sat atop a piece of brioche, which actually wasn't super easy to cut through, but it's all good. Of course, I loved the pairing with the strawberries and balsamic vinegar as well. It's becoming a bit ubiquitous in my world, but I'm still enjoying it.


My second course was the Braised Short Ribs with Sweet Pea Puree and Baby Carrots. This was another amazing dish. It was so tender, the sweetness of the glaze wasn't too sweet, and the pea puree matched surprisingly well with the short ribs. Excellent dish. The serving looked small, but it was the perfect amount since short ribs can be a bit rich sometimes. I definitely recommend this one for any future JG lunch goers.

Unfortunately, both Gabe and I somehow forgot to take a picture of our desserts. I settled the "Chocolate" dessert ($8) which came with JGV's famous molten chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream. It also came with a warm chocolate gnocchi with gianduja, basil, and some kind of citrus-y marmalade. These came in really tiny tasting portions, but they were both on the rich side. The molten chocolate cake was, of course, beyond amazing. Definitely the best molten chocolate cake I've ever had. I didn't like the chocolate gnocchi as much. The texture was great, but I didn't care too much for the citrus-y thing it was sitting on top of.



Lastly, we got our mignardises which consisted of homemade marshmallows, macarons, and chocolates! Right now, I forgot what all the flavors were. I enjoyed the marshmallows, but the macarons were so small that they were practically hollow. These were nowhere compared to Eleven Madison Park's macarons (to come later on).

Going to Jean-Georges for lunch was a great way for me to try the place without going all out, but the dinner tasting menu is still on my list for things to try when I eventually come back to New York. Maybe later on, Gabe can write about his dishes, as I'm sure they were all superb as well.

Jean-Georges
1 Central Park West

Perry St Brunch Round 2

After a wonderful Perry St brunch with Gabe a month and a half ago, I recommended it to my girl friends as a girls day out sort of thing. We went yesterday prior to watching the Sex and the City movie (Note: I really enjoyed the movie, but no we did not get all corny or dressed up for the event).

While trying to decide what to eat, we ended up choosing a bottle of Torrontes, 2007 (Sagra, Argentina) for $20. This was a wonderful white wine and absolutely perfect for brunch on a hot, summer day. I never knew what kind of wine would be appropriate for brunch, but now I do. It was very slightly sweet, pleasant, and easy to drink.



After we finally decided on what we were going to order, we were given an amuse-bouche of cold cucumber soup with some kind of foam. I want to say it was a parmesan foam, but I could be very wrong with that. I'm not sure what my friends thought of it, but I actually really loved it. Probably more than the sweet pea amuse bouche soup I got here last time. It was tangy and refreshing with a hint of salt.



For my first course, I got the House Made Mozzarella with Pickled Rhubarb and Black Pepper. The mozzarella was really good with the black pepper and the slightly syrupy sauce it came with. The pickled rhubarb contrasted the subtlety of the mozzarella really well, but the strong pickle taste had to be muted with some bites of bread every now and then.


For my second course, I got the House Made Gravlax with Poached Eggs and a Toasted Brioche. I really loved this one. Normally I don't like dill, but the accent of dill on this dish was nice. It was certainly rich with the eggs and buttery brioche, but was not overwhelmingly so. I wouldn't have minded another slice of the gravlax, but in any case, this was a great brunch dish.

I got the passion fruit sunflower dessert that Gabe ordered last time, so I won't bother to repost the picture.

Overall, brunch was pretty good, but for some reason, I wasn't as wowed this time around as I was the first time I ate here. Our waitress seemed a bit aloof, and sometimes it took awhile for the busboys to get rid of our plates and give us new bread.

Now that I've been to Perry St twice for brunch, the next step is to have lunch at Jean-Georges...

Perry St
176 Perry St
New York, NY

Da Andrea

When strolling in the West Village last week, Gabe and I decided to eat at Da Andrea on a whim. I had heard about this place on Chowhound, and I've seen it get compared to Bianca, a little Italian restaurant we went to way back in the day.

Da Andrea is very much a cute, little neighborhood restaurant with a very Italian rustic feel. From the moment I stepped in, I felt like I was transported back to my previous trips to Italy, minus the fact that I don't think anyone who worked there was actually Italian. But I was definitely feelin' the homey, rustic vibe.

After we decided what to order, we were given a basket of focaccia bread served with black olives in olive oil, which I enjoyed.



I got the Cavatelli with Fresh Salmon and Shrimp and in Light Pesto Sauce ($12.50). What I did not know when ordering this is that cavatelli is similar to gnocchi and that they look like mealworms. Aside from that, this was a really good dish. I was surprised by the amount of shrimp I got. There must have been around 10 well-sized shrimps that were cooked perfectly. I've never been a fan of fish in pasta, so I was actually happy that there wasn't much salmon in this pasta. The pesto sauce was slightly thicker than what I'm used to, but it was very good and not too heavy. Perhaps the only downside is that once the pasta started to cool towards the end, it started to taste very starchy which was sort of weird to me.


Gabe got the Squid Ink Tagliolini with Fresh Clams, Cherry Tomatoes, and White Wine ($12.50). I felt that this was the better pasta of the two. The pasta was perfectly fresh and al dente, there was a generous serving of clams, and the white wine sauce was quite tasty.

As you can see, the food here is very affordable. Our two pastas were the most expensive, believe it or not. I don't think I would go out of my way for this restaurant, especially since it's a bit far in the West Village, but it's definitely a great neighborhood restaurant that's affordable and reliable.

Da Andrea
557 Hudson St
New York, NY

Momofuku Ssam Bar

After relentlessly trying to get reservations at Momofuku Ko, David Chang's newest endeavor, Vivian and I gave up. Well, sort of. I'm still dying to go there at some point before I move out of NYC in the next few weeks, but we gave up on trying to go there together. Maybe I'll have more luck if I try eating there by myself, while she can wait to eat there until the hype dies down, if it ever does. So we decided on Momofuku Ssam Bar, and at least they don't take reservations. Usually, I don't like popular places that don't take reservations, but Ko's reservation system frustrates me to no end. Perhaps I'll elaborate on that when and if I ever get to eat there.




We showed up at Ssam Bar around 5:45 on a Wednesday night. That's really early for me, but we were both hungry and were worried about a long wait later on anyways. While browsing the menu (it changes daily, so I stole one!), we noticed a note on the back mentioning a tasting menu, so we asked our server about it. It's a $70 6-8 course tasting menu where the chef picks anything out of the regular menu, typically one from each category. We asked if they would allow us to pick out a few things that we were more interested in, and they were totally cool with that, so we told our server that we definitely wanted to try the pork buns, sweetbreads, and the skate. Other than that, we were cool with whatever else they want to pick out for us.


We started off with an amuse bouche of crostini topped with uni. I LOVE LOVE LOVE uni. I can still taste the brininess of the uni I had a Yasuda. Unfortunately, Ssam's uni wasn't quite as briny, but it was still great. We were also given a soup spoon with a calamari spring salad, which was quite refreshing.


To get the ball rolling a little more, we were given the plate of Seasonal Pickles. This is when I realized that there's not really such a thing as tasting portions for the tasting menu here. The portion was huge, and it came with maybe around 10 different pickled fruits/vegetables. My personal favorites were the pickled pears, fennel, cauliflower, cucumber, and kimchi. I actually thought the pickles were just supposed to be on the side the whole time - totally didn't realize it was a course on its own until we were asked a few times if they wanted us to take the pickles away.


This was the Cured Hamachi with edamame, horseradish, and pea leaves. I'm not very good at processing what the servers tell us every time they come out with a new plate, but I can only assume that the crunchy black stuff was the horseradish. I'm not sure what the green sauce was, but it added a nice touch.


The Sliced Kona Kambachi with arugula and strawberries came out at the same time, and this is the point when we realized that we don't get the same foods. Hell yeah! This must be the awesomest thing about Ssam Bar's tasting menu. It's not even like this at Ko, so yay for that. It seems like they also intend for you to share each other's plates, so they gave us empty plates for the purpose of sharing as well. Viv and I pretty much just split every dish half and half, so we really got to sample quite a bit here. Anyways, I liked this raw dish as well. The funny thing is that I frequently make an arugula salad with strawberries (and other stuff...I'll post up the salad recipe eventually). If only I could add some kampachi on my salads frequently. The strawberries and fish combination was pleasantly surprising to me, and you know I enjoy new flavor combinations. Loved loved loved it.


This was the Satur Farms' Asparagus with miso butter and poached egg. I absolutely love asparagus, and while I normally don't like runny eggs, I will more than willingly eat raw or runny eggs at a place that I trust. I definitely liked this with the asparagus, but what made this dish superb was the miso butter. The flavors all blended so well. If only I can get some miso butter somewhere and make this myself.


The Roasted Mushroom Salad with pistachio, radish, and sunchokes was another really good vegetable dish. I wanna say that the sauce was a pistachio sauce, which blended with the mushrooms really well. There were two kinds of mushrooms, one being oyster mushrooms. I'm not sure what the other kind was.


This was the monster plate of Country Hams. They gave us two kinds, but unfortunately I honestly can't tell you which two out of the four they are because I wasn't listening carefully enough. In any case, they were both good. I'm not an except on hams, but clearly they were sliced thinly like prosciutto, serrano, and the like. It was also served with coffee gravy on the side, which I actually did not like at all, and this is coming from a coffee addict (who gets migraines if she doesn't drink her morning coffee). It just tasted bizarre to me even though it was exactly what you would expect coffee in that creamy, mayo-texture form to taste like. I wasn't sure how that was supposed to be eaten with the bread and ham. But as you can see, this was a really large portion of ham. As awesome as the ham was, I would've been perfectly satisfied with half the portion.


Alas, the pork buns! Now let me just be up front about this. I used to not eat pork in it's most natural, meaty form. Sausages have been among my most favorite things in life since I was a kid, and definitely bacon in the last few years. But I formerly did not do unprocessed or uncured pork. I know this is a huge shame for a Filipino Chicago native. Really really bad. I'm sorry. But it's ok because I started to like pork just this past Christmas when my cousin made an amazing braised pork thing. I still don't think I'll eat pork chops or lechon since I don't really like the natural taste and dryness of pork, but maybe I'll give it a shot again.

Anyways, the pork buns. They were really freakin' awesome. The pork belly melted in my mouth. While of course there was a good amount of fat, it was the kind that melted in my mouth. Chewy fat grosses me out to no end. I wish I could've had like 10 of these pork buns. I kinda wanna go back for lunch now just to eat these mini pita-like buns.


Next, we both got our fish courses. This one is the Old Bay Pan-Fried Skate with roasted fingerlings, pickled ramps, and spicy aioli. I really liked how the spicy aioli went with the skate. The only thing I didn't like was the pickled ramps, and you know I love ramps. I guess the pickled taste of it was just weird to me.


This was the Grilled Mahi Mahi with sunchokes, tomatoes, and pancetta. It was probably my least favorite dish of the night. I just thought the fish itself was a bit bland. On the bright side, there was pancetta. Yay for more fatty pork.


For the last savory course, we got the Grilled Veal Sweetbreads with pickled roasted chilies and lime. I had never really had sweetbreads (thymus glands...yes) before aside from a bite from the sweetbreads my dad always orders at Babbo, so I was pretty excited for this. The lime gave an extra layer of flavor which I actually thought was necessary. The char also gave it a smoky flavor which was nice. These sweetbreads were also richer and creamier than I thought they would be. I don't remember the ones at Babbo being quite as creamy. While I really enjoyed these sweetbreads, I feel like I would prefer them to be fried a la KFC popcorn chicken-like Momofuku Noodle Bar style. I think the crunchiness would balance the inner creaminess well. I'll definitely have to try that at some point.


The other 7th course was the Bev Eggleston's Pork Shoulder Steak with zucchini and buttermilk dressing. This was yet another standout of the night. I never thought buttermilk and pork would go together, but I was seriously wowed at how well the flavors went together. The only thing is that this serving was way too large for a tasting, but nothing wrong with more pork, right?


One of our dessert courses was the Blondie Pie with cashews. I really liked this. It was quite rich, sweet, and dense, but very well-flavored.


Last, but DEFINITELY not least, was the Rhubarb Shorkcake with Kendall Farm's Creme Fraiche. I've never had rhubarb before. I didn't even know it's sweet. This was ridiculously good. The homemade creme fraiche was amazing, and it balanced the sweetness of the rhubarb and shortcake very well. The crunchiness of the outside of the shortcake was really nice too. If you have a chance to go to Ssam Bar while rhubarbs are still in season, you must get this for dessert.

So that's the end of our meal at Momofuku Ssam Bar. It was truly truly awesome, and any adventurous eater (or pork lover) would be amazed by this place. Do yourself a favor, and try this place...especially if you, too, have given up on trying to get a reservation spot at Momofuku Ko.

Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Ave
New York, NY